Keep New Zealand Beautiful welcomes new Community Branch in Porirua

Not-for-profit organisation Keep New Zealand Beautiful will now have a branch in Porirua, Keep Porirua Beautiful.

Keep Porirua Beautiful will be headed by Gary Mitchell who also heads Keep New Zealand Beautiful’s Keep Northern Wellington Beautiful branch. Gary is a Grenada Village local who won the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Tidy Kiwi Volunteer of the Month in April 2019 and was also a recipient of a Tidy Kiwi Award at the Beautiful Awards in 2020.

Gary’s goal is to protect and preserve New Zealand for generations to come, and he hopes that by starting another branch he will be able to influence more people in the Porirua area to get involved.

“I’m very excited to be starting the new branch and looking forward to getting the new group established,” says Gary.

Gary is the founder and manager of Predator Free Grenada Village and Grenada North, a volunteer group that aims to control pests and predators in Wellington suburbs. He has also been the Neighbourhood Support Coordinator for his street in Grenada Village since 2016 where he started a graffiti removal project, and together with a team of volunteers has removed hundreds of graffiti tags around the local area. Gary’s passion for coastal clean ups stems from his education studying marine biology at Napier University in Scotland, and he is an avid beach cleaner having helped clean up 190 beaches across seven countries.

Gary shares his passion with his family who join him on regular clean ups, often taking their rubbish sacks home and sorting them to make sure as much as possible gets recycled.

Gary plans for Keep Porirua Beautiful to host a small clean up each month, along with two additional large clean ups each year. Locals who are interested in joining the branch or volunteering should get in touch with Gary via our website.

By starting a branch in your community, you can help Keep New Zealand Beautiful to create a better New Zealand. For more information on Keep New Zealand Beautiful’s existing Community Branches, or how to start one in your local area, please click here.

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